Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle the theft of tools from vans.
Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)
The Government is working with Combined Industries Theft Solutions (CITS) and the police-led National Business Crime Centre to explore ways to prevent the theft of tools including theft from vans.
We are working closely with police and motor manufacturers through the National Vehicle Crime Working Group, chaired by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for vehicle crime, taking forward a programme of work to prevent and reduce theft of and from vehicles, which includes training police officers on methods used to steal vehicles, encouraging vehicle owners to secure their vehicles and working with industry to address vulnerability in vehicles.
The Government is tackling acquisitive crime as a priority and is committed to reducing the ability for criminals to profit from crime, making it less attractive for offenders to commit thefts of goods, including tools. We have established a group of expert policing and academic partners who are taking forward work across a number of themes. These include actions to identify where and how stolen goods are sold; examining ways to ensure property is marked, identifiable and traceable; and encouraging due diligence checks by second-hand traders and increased enforcement from police.
We are looking at adding this by SI to the matters covered by Greg Smith's PMB once it has passed.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to prevent (a) new county lines from starting up and (b) previous lines being resurrected by new prison leavers.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Since 2019 we have invested over £65m to tackle county lines and drug supply. Through our county lines programme we have surged our activity against these ruthless gangs. This has already resulted in more than 1,100 lines closed, over 6,300 arrests, and more than 1,900 vulnerable adults and children safeguarded.
The police have a range of orders available to respond to county lines activity, including Drug Dealing Telecommunications Restrictions Orders (DDTROs). Through our County Lines programme the National County Lines Coordination Centre has established a dedicated orders team to promote and maximise the use of civil orders to tackle county lines, with a particular focus on DDTROs.
We are also working collaboratively with HMPPS to ensure there is a co-ordinated and robust response to disrupt county lines, as well as safeguarding vulnerable individuals from being involved in this offending.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 27 October 2020 to Question 105600 on dangerous dogs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a standardised method of recording non-assistance dog attacks across all police forces in England.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
When setting national standard methods for classifying crimes reported to the police the benefits of consistent recording need to be balanced against other considerations. In this instance the Home Office has judged it better to allow local flexibility to manage incident recording in a manner most suitable to local needs. This allows police forces to develop the most appropriate approach to understand and respond to local issues.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the merits of introducing a standardised method of recording dog attacks across all police forces in England.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Attacks where a person or assistance dog is injured constitute specific offences in law and police forces are required to record them consistently as set out in the Home Office Counting Rules for recorded crime. Other attacks, such as those on livestock, should be recorded by police when reported to them and we expect forces to be able to use the data to assess the risks in their area and take action accordingly.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to Recommendation 21 of the Third Report of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee’s report, Forensic science and the criminal justice system: a blueprint for change, published on 1 May 2020, HL Paper 333, what recent discussions she has had with forensic science stakeholders on the potential merits of establishing a Forensic Science Institute; and what the outcome of those discussions was.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
My officials have been working closely with colleagues across Government as well as the forensic science sector to ensure that policing and the CJS benefits from advances in science and technology by developing and implementing new forensic techniques more coherently. The Home Office and the Ministry of Justice have strengthened further our working relationship with UKRI as we work with them and other strategic partners including providing funding for the police-led Forensic Capability Network to develop and set the research priorities for forensic science research and development.
The Forensic Capability Network have been working with user communities to identify what they need from the research system, and what changes are needed as well as interrogating existing links and resources to understand the extent to which the current system is ready to meet user needs. The Forensic Capability Network is actively identifying, the connections, infrastructures, or programmes in order to develop, support and coordinate research for the justice system.
A Science for the Justice System Advisory Group has also been established, working with a UKRI project to devise options for future mechanisms to effectively and efficiently coordinate forensic science in the UK. Initial consultation with key stakeholders has identified common areas of research need, and mapping of relevant UKRI investments has also been undertaken to support ongoing development of funding and coordination options to ensure research can better meet different forms of user need.
Considerations of the case for a National Institute are ongoing, but we consider work in progress to represent a significant step in the right direction and will continue to monitor progress at the Criminal Justice Board (CJB) Forensics Sub-Group.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure police forces have the necessary powers to enforce local lockdowns.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
Under the Health Protection Regulations, the police have been given the powers they need to support compliance with essential social distancing measures to keep us all safe during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Health Secretary signed new regulations under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 in order to maintain and reimpose restrictions for Leicester, which came into force on 4 July.
These regulations also exempt Leicester from the national changes under the Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (No. 2) (England) Regulations 2020, which came into force on Saturday 4 July.
We worked closely with our policing partners who issued operational guidance to all forces on enforcing the Leicester local lockdown. This operational guidance has been made available on the College of Policing website.
Asked by: Jane Hunt (Conservative - Loughborough)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what discussions she has had with (a) the police and (b) other stakeholders on introducing further measures to tackle drug driving.
Answered by Kit Malthouse
The Government has established a project team, consisting of Department for Transport, Home Office and the National Police Chiefs Council to take stock of how the police and other agencies currently carry out road traffic enforcement and understanding what can be done better to tackle road crime including tackling drug driving.
We are gathering evidence on the current position for roads policing enforcement and will look to pilot initiatives this year and will consider next steps when the review concludes.